Synopsis: While Goku is still amazed that Yamcha lost and Kuririn worried that he has to fight Jackie next, Yamcha congratulates the elder on his victory, saying that he wasn't even in the same league as him. The old man comforts him, saying that he's still young and will only improve in time, and Jackie's overall fighting and nature is starting to remind Yamcha of someone... This thought is interrupted however as the next fighters, Namu and Ranfan, are called to the arena. Ranfan fixes up her make-up, and Jackie tries to playfully nudge Namu about how lucky he is to get to fight such a babe, but Namu remains silent and focused. Jackie can't understand how someone could be so serious at such a fun event, so he takes a moment to read Namu's mind, finding out that Namu has only come to the tournament in hopes of winning the prize money to spend on water for his village that is experiencing an intense drought. Jackie comments that he doesn't think they're going to get many gags out of this one. The match begins, and Ranfan immediately tries distracting Namu with her looks. It works, so she launches an attack that catches him off guard. When he finally starts to retaliate however, she screams feebly, causing him to pull his punch. She wails as if he's really hurt her however, and in his awkward apologetic-ness, she finds another chance to attack, striking him hard in the ribs. When she tries to hit him again however, he catches her fist and says he sees through her tactics now, and all he has to do to win is not view her as a woman. Ranfan tries her cutesy act again, but Namu attacks, proving that it's not going to work on him anymore. Left with no other choice, Ranfan uses her ultimate technique: stripping. She strips down to her underwear, and the shy Namu is too embarrassed to even look at her. From the sidelines however, Jackie is excitedly cheering her on, telling her to go even further, which causes Yamcha to to finally figure it out – Jackie Chun must be the Turtle Hermit in disguise! As Ranfan walks towards Namu, almost forcing him out of the ring, Namu thinks again of his village and how they're all counting on him. He squeezes his eyes shut as Ranfan goes in for the kill, dodging her attack and chopping her in the back of the neck, knocking her out cold. As Namu is declared the winner, Namu is concerned that he may have actually hurt her this time, and the announcer asks the 'doctor', Jackie, what he expects to learn from looking at her butt. Review: Alright, alright, everyone either get your wolf howls out of your system, or put them away for later. We're gonna talk about Namu first. Unless of course you're howling for Namu, in which case, hey, you do you. Howl away. Namu is one of the first 'serious' characters we get in the series, in that he has an actual backstory and is fighting for a truly dire reason rather than for the fun of it. It's not quite to the point that I'd call him stoic by any means, but he's the closest thing we've come to it thus far. His backstory is appropriately sad, and given how thin the reasoning is for any of the other characters to deserve victory, you'd almost think Toriyama was building him up as the ultimate victor of the tournament. In fact, I think there might be something to that, but I'll touch on that at the end of the tournament. Overall, Nam is truly the first real fighter we've been exposed to in the Tenkaichi Budokai that wasn't one of our main characters. Oh, other than totally original character Jackie Chun, that is. Ranfan on the other hand is, well, eye candy personified. She's the first real sex joke the series has had in a while, and even then, it doesn't go quite as far as some of the gags in the first arc did. Part of that is, as I've said, how it's utilized – she's the one in charge of her situation here, she's the one deciding to strip down and “show off the goods” as it were. She's not doing it just for fun though, no, she's just as dirty of a fighter as Bacterian, just in a more visually pleasing manner. Unless of course, you find Bacterian visually appealing, at which point, you...you do you...I-I guess... The fact that we get as many good reactions out of Namu as we do both prevents him from being a truly stoic character, as well as proving Jackie's fourth-wall break wrong – we ARE getting some good gags out of Namu, he's just the butt of the joke, poor guy. And speaking of Jackie Chun, the dramatic reveal, or at least the first big 'wait, WHAT IF...' is finally spoken by Yamcha, who has used his peerless brilliance to finally figure out that maybe, just maybe, Jackie is Roshi in disguise. Man, that demotion from the front lines is already doing a number on the poor guy. I mean, really, Jackie Chun is Kame-sennin in disguise...what's next, vaccines turning people into magnets? Take off the tinfoil hat, Yamcha. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: Oh no, there goes Pa-pa-ya, go go Giran-zilla!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
About the AuthorAspiring author and big anime/manga fan, just trying to do my best in the world. For more details, go to About Me. Archives
September 2022
Categories
All
|